BY! ME!
by Wrenchy
Summary: Don't leave me alone, Ratchet. And the same goes for you, Clank. Rated for possible language, possible violence. SPOILERS FOR A CRACK IN TIME AND ENDING FOR TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION!
1. AUTHORS NOTE

I hate to be the stereotypical loser who makes a stupid author's note as the first chapter, but I just want to explain the point of this whole thing because I'm not going to be explaining it for effect on the proceeding chapters.

So, the chapters are supposed to spell out "Don't Leave Me Alone." It's a bit of a challenge where I start each chapter with the first letter of the word that each chapter represents, and it's all based on Clank's relationship with Ratchet. Now, I'm not a Ratchet x Clank shipper, but I'm all about their friendship for certain, so I still love writing that sort of thing. The title is designed all oddly because it's supposed to represent something. If you don't get it, feel free to message me. I'm always open for that kind of thing.

I've been really inspired to write Ratchet and Clank, mainly because I've played Tools of Destruction, and I leaked a bunch of cutscenes from A Crack in Time.

So, to prevent from making this tl;dr, basically, this is just a set of oneshots that relate to each other symbolically. Yup. That's it.

(These chapters are spoilers for Tools of Destruction AND A Crack in Time! Be careful while reading!)


	2. don't

**D**one. He was done.

_Flop_.

He knew there were worried faces gazing down upon him, but quite frankly, he didn't care.

_Because none of those faces were the one that he wanted to see_.

"Ratchet…"

_Just Ratchet_. _No "and Clank_._"_

"You can't do this to yourself."

_And who was she to say such things?_

"Talwyn, just give up."

_Yes, exactly_. _Because you're not Clank_.

Ratchet stared dismally at the ceiling of the building.

_When sleep overcame him again, it could not take his thoughts away from Clank_.


	3. leave

**L**ifeless. That's what Clank assumed he was for a long time – since, of course, he's a robot.

However, he never truly understood what people meant when they said that they felt "lifeless" themselves.

At least, he didn't know for a long time, until he saw the life taken away from someone else – and though the life wasn't his own, he still felt just as much breathless as the other.

_Alister Azimuth_. _His eyes were narrowed at Ratchet, and Clank could not predict what he was about to do next_.

He had been separating from Ratchet. His best friend. Who he had known longer than anyone else, longer than even his own _father_, and yet he knew he had to help his father, since it was an inherited duty that he had been predetermined to take on.

_He was shouting words, words that were now meaningless to the both of them_. _They knew the Clock's true purpose, which Alister failed to understand_. _Clank did not expect the turn this lack of understanding would take_.

His eyes were attached to the ground. Not on Ratchet. He couldn't look at the Lombax who had saved his life countless times as he had saved his.

_A light was being emitted from his wrench, its end pointed at Ratchet_. _He continued shouting, but it wasn't the shouting that caught Clank's attention_. _It was the unexpected threat_.

He heard Ratchet whip around. His breath constricted. The Lombax he had known for so long…

_SHOOOOOOP!_

**RATCHET! HAD! BEEN! SHOT!**

His wide gaze was focused on his partner in crime. From whom he heard staggering breaths. The Lombax's eyes narrowed as Clank assumed his vision was blurring, the world fading away from him. Alister only watched impassively.

_Clank could hear Ratchet's beating heart, starting to slow and quiet_… _Clank truly knew fear right then_.

He watched Ratchet step back…

His eyes rolled back…

And watched his best friend disappear into the depths of nothing of space, despite his grasping robotic hands. Watched the lonely Lombax he had been traveling with for _years_ just disappear, due to a fatal shot to the chest, due to another of _his own kind _who was going mad with a mistake he made a long time ago.

"_Ratchet!"_


	4. me

**M**inutes. It had been minutes since everything changed to Clank.

What use was this Clock? What use was this _damn _Clock!?

_Alister was insane. Ratchet was gone._

Ratchet was _gone_.

_Blip_. He pushed a button of recordings. He wondered if his father knew anything about this – if his father had any information that could rectify the current situation.

_All the recordings were, were of things that he had already heard_.

_The recording of Ratchet's voice was the worst, though._

Clank wished the ground would swallow him up and finally just end his pitiful existence.

**FATHER! WHY! CAN'T! YOU! HELP! ME!?**

"_I wouldn't risk more than six __**minutes**__."_

Six… minutes?

_Minutes_?

It had been minutes since everything had changed.

And he could go back to those minutes – and change them –

Clank turned the dial.


	5. alone!

**A**lone. Ratchet said he had left the two of them alone – Clank and his father. Just the two of them by themselves to talk with each other, to catch up on things, something they really needed to do. That other guy, too. Whatshisname. He left him with Clank, too.

The truth was, though…

_Ratchet felt alone himself, even though he left _Clank _alone_.

His footsteps were heavy. They were lonely footsteps.

His eyes were drowned in sorrow. They were lonely eyes.

His ship awaited him in front of him. It was a lonely ship.

Ratchet ran his hand over her glossy metallic skin. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable with an excuse just to fuss over his ship. He knew he couldn't leave Clank.

The hand was lonely.

Ratchet pressed a button. He found that the button was alone, too. The ship's top opened up, welcoming him in – the ship was alone, so of course she would want him to bask within her.

Ratchet landed in the seat, the _lonely _seat.

_He hated the word lonely. He chastised himself for continually repeating it in his head._

But it was true, right?

The Lombax gave a longing look to the Clock. Wait, no, not at the Clock. More at its inhabitants. One inhabitant in particular, it would seem. _Clank_.

**RATCHET! FEELS! SO! ALONE!**

_There it is again, that dreaded word. Okay, not necessarily "lonely," but basically where the word comes from, anyway._

Ratchet pulled down the lever, his eyes closed. He knew that if he opened them he would just look behind himself, and the only place that he could look now was forward. He would see that lonely Clock again and feel lonely himself, and wonder if Clank is as lonely as he already is right now.

_Ch-ch-ch, _the ship spat at him as the ignition started up and the cover started to close down.

_Cl-a-a-ank._

His emerald eyes opened in surprise, and he looked at what landed in the seat next to him.

Clank only smiled at him.

There must've been a mirror in the room, because Ratchet could've sworn he felt himself smiling back. Oh wait, of course there wasn't. He wouldn't _feel _it.

As they shot off into the stars, Ratchet realized he wasn't so lonely anymore.

_Darn it, that word again…!_


End file.
